Ted Lange on Nickelson: ‘Denver is really going to miss his presence’

Ted Lange (Isaac from “The Love Boat”) is also a playwright who has had several of his comedies (including “Four Queens, No Trump”) staged at the Shadow Theatre under Jeffrey Nickelson.

We spoke to him today about the death of the company’s founder.

Some excerpts:

“It was devastating because he is such a good guy. It just breaks my heart that these guys who are really committed to doing something, for whatever reason — they don’t get to finish their run. It’s not right.

“But at least he left a legacy of the theater.

“He and I used to sit around and talk theater politics and theater strategy, and that’s what I’ll miss. Because, being in my position, sometimes people wear a mask, do you know what I mean? The great thing about Jeffrey and I is that we could sit down, no B.S. involved, and just talk straight up, which I am going really to miss, because there is only a handful of people that I can do that with.

“We hit it off immediately. That was the beauty of it. We hit it off. We were friends.

“But the great thing about Jeffery was, he was never intimidated by anybody, because he knew how talented he was. That gave us common ground. I could be up-front and not have to be careful about how I approach a subject. That was the beauty of it, and that’s certainly not everywhere, either in Hollywood or in New York. That’s why I loved coming to Denver. I love the city.

“Denver doesn’t know it yet, but they are really going to miss his presence. I don’t think they fully realize it yet, but they are going to feel it. Hopefully these new people who are running the (Shadow Theatre) will take the baton and run the next leg of the race, so to speak.

“The beauty of this guy is that I didn’t have to tap dance. He trusted me. I trusted him, and we ran the same road. We were running the same race.

“He was a great guy. And that’s what hurts. Not only as an artist; not only as a friend — he was just a good guy. He’s passed on now, and he had so much more to offer.

“Fifty-three is young. I know he had a lot more things in his brain that could have found the light of day.

“I’ll always respect that his word was in gold.

“I just mourn his passing, but I’m very pleased that I got to see him on his journey; that we connected. And I think that’s a wonderful thing,

“For whatever time he was here, I got to be a part of that guy’s life and we touched each other, you know?

Film & theater critic Lisa Kennedy likes to watch -- a lot. She also has a fondness for no-man’s lands, contested territories and Venn Diagrams. She believes the best place to live is usually on the border between two vibrant neighborhoods. Where better to apply this penchant for overlap and divergence than covering film and theater – two arts that owe so much to each other yet offer radically idiosyncratic pleasures? In another life, Kennedy was an Obie judge. In this one, she’s been a Pulitzer Prize judge in criticism, an Independent Spirit Award jurist and Colorado’s first member of the National Society of Film Critics.

More than a mash-up of the Running Lines and Diary of a Madmoviergoer blogs, Stage, Screen & In Between offers engaged takes on Colorado theater and film and pointed views on news from both coasts and both industries. Culture lovers, add your voices. Culture-makers, share your production journal entries and photos.